General Election 2017: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visits Swinnow

17 May 2017

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Hundreds turned out to see the Labour Party leader set out his political stall in Swinnow – the day his party released its general election manifesto.

Jeremy Corbyn rolled up to Swinnow Community Centre in his red campaign bus, bearing the slogan ‘For the many, not the few’ just after 5pm on Tuesday, May 15, just hours after he launched the official policy document at Bradford University.

Corbyn arrives in Swinnow. Photo: Ben Whittington

The community centre was full to capacity with supporters keen to hear the party leader’s vision. Mr Corbyn was introduced by Ian McCargo, the Labour Party candidate for Pudsey.

Dressed in red – the party colour – and bearing posters and messages of support, members of the crowd made their enthusiasm for the visit known as the Labour leader took to the stage.

Thanking the crowd for their support, Mr Corbyn said it was inspiring to see so many people turning out to back the party’s campaign before talking about some of the manifesto policies for ‘an alternative way forward’; including education, scrapping tuition fees, childcare and free school meals for all primary school children.

It’s been a grand tour of Yorkshire for Mr Corbyn over the past couple of days as thousands spilled onto the streets at the Brudenell Social Club in Hyde Park to see him on Monday afternoon and crowds gathered in Huddersfield to hear him speak soon after the manifesto launch on Tuesday. He has also appeared in Leeds city centre, Morley, Garforth, Sheffield and York in the past week.

Mrs May launched her party’s campaign in Harehills earlier this month.

General election candidates

The candidates for Pudsey constituency are Stuart Andrew for the Conservative Party, Bob Buxton for the Yorkshire Party, Ian McCargo for the Labour Party, Allen Nixon for the Liberal Democrats and Independent candidate Michael Wharton.

The candidates for Leeds West constituency are Mike Davies for the Alliance for Green Socialism, Ed Jones for the Yorkshire Party, Alisdair McGregor for the Liberal Democrats, Zoe Metcalfe for the Conservative Party, Andrew Pointon for the Green Party, Rachel Reeves for the Labour Party and Mark Thackray for the UK Independence Party.

For attention of Cray Gill! West Yorkshire Police asked the organisers of this event NOT to publicise it widely since they were concerned about a crowd of thousands arriving as per Brudenell Social Club the previous evening. As a responsible party and in the interests of public safety the decision was taken to cooperate fully with the police request. Those are facts. Had we advertised it as widely as we’d originally intended then thousands would have been there – that is also a fact.

Re the police, someone should have told your candidate. He was tweeting about the visit and was inviting people to attend (admittedly at the wrong time). Or are only the converted reading your candidate’s twitter feed, in which case he needs to up his game